How to Apply for or Change Child or Spousal Support When the Other Person Lives in Another Province or Country

What is an interjurisdictional support case?

An interjurisdictional support case is one where the people involved live in different legal jurisdictions. That can mean two different Canadian provinces or territories, or Canada and another country.

Canada has systems designed specifically for these cases. In the common-law provinces and territories, they are often called ISO proceedings, short for interjurisdictional support orders. These procedures can be used to establish, vary and in appropriate cases register or enforce family support obligations across jurisdictional borders.

Justice Canada explains that each province and territory has an office responsible for processing interjurisdictional support cases. Depending on the jurisdiction, it may be called an ISO unit, ISO office or designated authority. Start with Justice Canada's provincial and territorial interjurisdictional support directory.

Can you apply for new support or change an existing order?

Yes. Reciprocal support arrangements can allow a person to establish, vary or enforce a support order when the other person lives in another participating jurisdiction.

If there is no existing support order, the process may be used to seek one. If an order already exists and circumstances have changed, an interjurisdictional application may be available to vary, rescind or suspend the support obligation, depending on the governing legislation and facts.

The process is not limited to unpaid support. Establishing an amount for the first time and changing the amount of an existing order are separate functions of the interjurisdictional system.

Is there one Canada-wide application form?

No. There is no single application package that everyone in Canada submits to one federal office. Family justice administration is divided between federal, provincial and territorial governments, and each province or territory has its own rules, forms and designated authority.

The federal Divorce Act can apply to support proceedings between former spouses who are divorced or divorcing, while provincial or territorial family law generally governs many cases involving unmarried parents or married couples who separate without obtaining a divorce.

Justice Canada maintains links to the relevant provincial and territorial family justice services. Use the forms for the province or territory handling your application rather than copying forms from another jurisdiction.

What if the other person lives in another Canadian province or territory?

This is the most straightforward type of reciprocal case because all Canadian provinces and territories have reciprocal arrangements with each other.

Contact the designated authority or interjurisdictional support office in your home province or territory. It can tell you which forms are required and how to submit them. The application package is then processed through the interjurisdictional system and sent to the appropriate authority in the other province or territory.

Justice Canada notes that provincial and territorial interjurisdictional services can help obtain or change support orders and can help have support orders registered and enforced where the other person lives.

Use the official family support services directory to identify the government service responsible for your jurisdiction.

What if the other person lives in another country?

First check whether your province or territory has a reciprocal support relationship with the other country or political subdivision. Each Canadian province and territory establishes its own reciprocity arrangements, so a country recognized by one province should not automatically be assumed to have the same relationship with every other jurisdiction.

Justice Canada publishes the current international support reciprocity information.

If a reciprocal arrangement exists, your provincial or territorial authority can tell you which procedure applies and transmit an eligible application through official channels. If there is no reciprocal arrangement and no applicable international convention, you may need to obtain legal advice about bringing proceedings directly in the foreign country.

When does the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention apply?

The Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance creates an international cooperation system for cross-border family support cases.

As of August 2026, Justice Canada states that the Convention applies in Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia. It has applied in Manitoba and Ontario since February 1, 2024 and in British Columbia since March 1, 2024.

Each of those provinces has a Provincial Central Authority responsible primarily for cooperation with authorities in other Convention countries and for processing applications. Canada also has a Federal Central Authority, including a role in helping foreign Central Authorities locate people whose whereabouts in Canada are unknown.

The Convention is expected to be implemented in additional Canadian jurisdictions over time, so always check the current Justice Canada international support page rather than assuming that an older provincial list is still current.

What if the other person lives in the United States?

Justice Canada states that all Canadian provinces and territories except Quebec have reciprocal arrangements with the United States government that apply to all American states and territories.

Quebec follows a different arrangement. Justice Canada currently lists reciprocal relationships between Quebec and California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Because the procedure depends on your province or territory, contact your local designated authority before preparing documents for a U.S. case.

What documents will you usually need?

The exact package varies, but interjurisdictional forms are designed to give the receiving authority and court enough evidence to decide the support issue without treating it as an ordinary local case.

Depending on what you are requesting, expect to provide information about:

• your identity and contact details;
• the other person's identity and location;
• your relationship and separation or divorce;
• children for whom support is requested;
• existing support orders or agreements;
• your income and financial circumstances;
• the other person's income where known;
• special or extraordinary expenses claimed for a child, where applicable;
• the change in circumstances relied on when asking to vary support;
• the amount and type of support requested.

Some forms require evidence to be sworn or affirmed. For international files, certified copies or translations may also be necessary. Follow the checklist supplied by your own provincial or territorial authority.

What if you do not know exactly where the other person lives?

Give the interjurisdictional support authority as much accurate identifying and location information as you have. The correct receiving jurisdiction usually needs to be identified before the application can proceed efficiently.

Federal law allows designated provincial authorities to request certain federal information to assist with processing an interjurisdictional support application in qualifying circumstances. This is an authority-to-authority process and is not the same as an individual obtaining private federal records themselves.

Do not delay contacting your provincial or territorial office simply because you do not know a complete street address. Explain what you know and ask what tracing or procedural options may be available.

Which child support rules determine the amount?

The answer depends on which law governs the proceeding. Justice Canada states that when spouses divorce under Canada's Divorce Act, the Federal Child Support Guidelines apply.

If you were never married to the other parent, are separated but not divorcing, or obtained a divorce under the law of another country, provincial or territorial law may determine how a Canadian proceeding can be brought and which rules apply.

Justice Canada's international child support calculation guidance explains these distinctions.

How do you change an existing child or spousal support order?

Tell the designated authority that you are seeking a variation rather than a first support order and provide a complete copy of the existing order or agreement.

You will normally need to explain the legal and factual basis for the requested change and provide the financial evidence required by the applicable law. Examples may include a material change in income or another change relevant to child or spousal support, but the legal test depends on the legislation governing your order.

Under the Divorce Act, sections 18 and following establish procedures for support matters between provinces and between a province and a designated foreign jurisdiction. The current provisions can be reviewed in the Divorce Act interjurisdictional support provisions.

What happens after you send the application?

Your designated authority reviews the package for the interjurisdictional process and transmits an eligible application through the appropriate channels. In a common-law ISO proceeding, the receiving authority can place the application before the appropriate court or decision-maker in the jurisdiction where the respondent lives.

The receiving court may decide the application using the documentary evidence or may require additional material. If more information is requested, it is important to respond through the procedure specified by your designated authority.

There is no national processing deadline. Timing depends on two or more jurisdictions, their courts and authorities, service or notice requirements, and whether the application is complete.

Is applying for support the same as enforcing unpaid support?

No. Establishing or varying support determines what should be paid. Enforcement deals with collecting support that is already payable under an enforceable order or agreement.

Provincial and territorial Maintenance Enforcement Programs help collect child and spousal support. An order from another province, territory or reciprocating foreign jurisdiction may first have to be registered or otherwise recognized for enforcement.

If you already have a support order and your problem is that the other person is not paying, contact the maintenance enforcement program in the province or territory where you live. Justice Canada's support enforcement directory provides the current contacts.

Does Quebec use the same ISO process?

Not exactly. The common-law provinces and territories use legislation generally known as Interjurisdictional Support Orders legislation. Quebec uses its own reciprocal enforcement legislation and procedures.

This distinction can affect how an application is created and transmitted, particularly in international or variation cases. If either party lives in Quebec, use Quebec's current official procedure rather than assuming that an ISO form from another province applies.

Do you need a lawyer?

The government interjurisdictional process is designed to transmit eligible support applications between participating jurisdictions, and a provincial or territorial designated authority can explain its administrative requirements. It does not provide you with individualized legal advice.

Consider speaking with a family-law lawyer if there is a dispute about jurisdiction, parentage, the validity of an existing foreign order, complex income, spousal support entitlement, retroactive support, conflicting proceedings or a country with no reciprocal arrangement.

Justice Canada specifically notes that family law can be complex and that legal advice may be useful in interjurisdictional cases.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Do not assume the ordinary family court forms from your province are automatically the correct forms for an interjurisdictional case.
• Do not use another province's ISO package just because the forms appear similar.
• Do not assume every foreign country has a reciprocal support arrangement with every Canadian province or territory.
• Do not assume that Canada's participation in the 2007 Hague Convention means the Convention currently applies in every province and territory.
• Provide the most complete information you have about where the other person lives.
• If you are changing an order, include the complete existing order and the evidence required to support the requested variation.
• Respond promptly when either jurisdiction asks for additional evidence or corrected forms.
• Keep establishment or variation separate from enforcement. If an existing order is not being paid, contact the maintenance enforcement program as well.

Where should you start?

Start in your own province or territory. Justice Canada maintains a national directory linking to each jurisdiction's legislation, forms, ISO or designated authority and maintenance enforcement contacts.

Open the provincial and territorial interjurisdictional support directory, select where you live and follow that jurisdiction's current instructions.

If the other person lives abroad, also confirm the applicable reciprocal arrangement before completing the package. That check determines whether the Canadian interjurisdictional process can be used and which foreign authority will receive the application.